stdefhatch

I did a few searches and didnt find much so ill try this out. Since winter started my car would always seem to run on the cold side, the temp gauge would only get to the mid way point if the car was at idle or i was in traffic. Other wise it would sit at around 1/4 past the C line. I recently swapped my motor last weekend and now it will only get to 1/4 past the "c" mark if im idling or in traffic. When driving on the hwy or in town it will be bellow the "c"line/mark like it is when you first start your car. When it actually gets up to 1/4 on the gauge it will blow out hot air, but of course when it drops it blows out cold air. My 1st guess was the thermostat but i wanted to see if anyone else has ever had this similar issue. Ive got my old/spare motor so i do have all of the sensors still on the block that i can use if i need to. Thanks in advance.

rick_rabies

do you have a 8 foot radiator on your roof or sumthing?
try a smaller radiator.
i remember when i got a nice racing radiator and it never got up to the half mark if thats any consolation to you
try draining the radiator after you ran if for awhile..if you have enough water and not enough antifreeze. you can still have flow but ice in the system...
drain it and put just antifreeze in it

stdefhatch

actualy its got the oem single core radiator from an em1. i might just try a thermo today or tomorrow and drain the coolant.

rick_rabies

it could be stuck open too idk.
GL

Robin6

could be the thermo stuck open and/or a small radiator/hose leak not allowing pressure to build up. or just air in the system. Did you bleed it well/correctly?

S_F

Happened to me last winter. I replaced the thermostat and all is well now.

stdefhatch

yes it was done correctly. ill try out the thermostat when i can get in a heated garage.

stdefhatch

tried the ghetto cardboard trick in front of the radiator and that worked good. probably try swapping a few things out tomorrow.

MotoJon

More often than not its usually a T-stat stuck open

stdefhatch

yeah im hoping so. gona try that tomorrow.

stdefhatch

it was the thermostat, or actually the lack of thermostat. there wasnt one in there at all so that explains it.

DanielSLe

Yeah same thing happens to my car. Except my thermostat doesn't work. I can drive my 92 hatch for hours and my car doesn't heat up. I can pop the hood and touch my engine no problem. Is that a bad thing?

stdefhatch

thats how mine was. and it was due to having no thermostat at all. same thing could happen with a thermostat that took a ****. it just took me a few days to change it because its so cold here and i was waiting for a heated garage. id try that.